Good rally clocked a little over 850 miles Thurs - Sun. Windy but dry(for the most part) ride home. Attendance seemed a little light from years past.....Overall had a good time!

 

A little late to the party, but I'll add my comments. Road down from NJ w/ my buddy on Thursday. Stayed at his brother's house in Va. Beach Thursday night. Headed out for OBX Friday morning. Stopped at the dealership for a while, then hit Hooter's. Weather was ok, if a bit on the cool side.

Problem was, my buddy's bike was making a bit of noise when we left on Thursday ('03 Road King w/ ~48k miles on it). When we left Hooter's to go to the hotel, the noise seemed to get a lot louder, and in addition to the whine, there was also a bit of a clunk. Got to the hotel, checked in, called the dealer, and ran it up there. Turns out it was the cam chain tensioner. They hooked him up w/ a rental (Ultra Classic), and said they'd open it up in the AM (got there ~3:00). So, off we go. Met some friends of his at the Eagles lodge on the beach road, had some wings, shot some pool, then it was off to Mulligan's for dinner. After dinner, it was off to Lucky 12's (my favorite bar!) for some fun, and then off to Kelly's for the official Friday night party. Awesome band (Krunch), and crowded as hell.

Got word from the dealer Sat. AM that they had to order parts, and they wouldn't have the bike done until late Tues. Headed out for 'breakfast' at Hurricane Moe's and then hit the road. Road down to Hattaras and ducked into Uncle Pauly's just in time to beat the little shower that blew through. Got back and went to dinner at Awful Arthur's and then Port of Call and Lucky 12's.

Sunday was more riding (since we weren't leaving). Hit Wanchese and Manteo on Roanoke Island and then out to Vertigo on the Dare mainland. Did lunch at Strippers on the water in Manteo and dinner back at Jimmy's all-you-can-eat seafood across from Hooter's.

I headed out Monday AM as I had to be home for Tuesday. Ride was great. Met some other guys from NJ after breakfast at Miller's. Caught up w/ them again just before the 13 / 113 split. They took 113 to the Cape May Ferry and I headed up 13. Temp dropped from 75 to 55 once I was on the Northern side of the bay bridge tunnel, but I didn't hit any rain until about 25 miles South of the Delaware bridge. Never rained hard, just annoying.

All in all, a great time. Could have used another 10-15 degrees warmer, and no rain, but hey, it's April in OBX, all bets are off! My buddy's bike was done Tues. at ~6:30 PM, and he promptly hit the road. Got in ~2:30 am Wednesday AM. No rain, but he said it was damned cold!

I'll go back next year!

 

Anybody hear anything about some hard core MC raising hell down there and setting the road on fire with diesel fuel poured in a pattern of their club name or sign or patch or whatever? I guess someone will always try and find a way to f up a good time for everyone else.

 

Never heard that but if it's true it sounds gay. Little kids could come up with a better prank then that.

 

My neighbor just came back from down there this past weekend. He said he saw where the road is still charred from it and an LEO confirmed that that is what happened.

 

Where was this? I didn't see that, but there was a guy that was doing walk-around doughnuts w/ his crotch rocket in front of Lucky 12's on Friday night. Happened just as we had parked our bikes and were walking up to the door. Soon as he got on the bike, he didn't go 10 feet before 2 patrol cars converged on him. Must not have gotten in too much trouble, as he was doing the same thing in the Port of Call parking lot on Saturday night.

Saw a few different 3-pc patch MC's down there, but nobody seemed to be causing any trouble.

 

I didn't see any trouble myself either. I did see rubber marks here and there that obviously came from doughnuts. But doing some doughnuts is one thing - setting the road on fire, especially down there, is dangerous and puts a lot of lives at risk. I set off a smoke bomb down there once as a kid and the grass lit up like it was made of gas and was headed towards a house in a flash. It was all we could do to hold it back with water hoses until the fire dept. got there.

I did see several MC's down there, which is fine by me. I was coming out of Hooters parking lot on Saturday afternoon and saw a MC coming in. 2 of them just pulled in and stopped in each lane front of oncoming traffic on the bypass so the rest of their brothers could cruise into the lot without having to wait to make a left turn. In some ways, I'm kind of cool with that but at the same time, that stuff leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the locals down there and could make some of them want to start passing the same laws they did at Myrtle Beach to get rid of the bikers. It's not like there were 100 or more of those guys - it was like 15 or so. They could have just waited to make their turn just like everyone else has to and everyone could just get along. My sense is that, right now, the locals welcome the bikers because they get their season jump started a bit sooner than usual. But, if we do stuff to **** them off, they'll just decide it's not worth it and start doing something about it.

 

Yeah, that kind of stuff is uncalled for. And you're right, it will **** off the locals. My buddy was there last year, and he said it seemed like there were a lot more people this year. Probably would have been more had the weather been better.

We were riding around on Sunday afternoon, and it was like night and day compared to Saturday. Hardly any bikes around. And yep, huge shot in the arm for the local business at that time of year. I don't imagine all the hotels are usually booked up then. It was a fun even, and I'd hate to see it ruined by a few.

Oh yeah, the doughnuts in front of Lucky 12's from Friday night were hard to miss!

 

I've been to the last 3 or 4 years and this year seemed the lowest on attendance by far. I am only judging from being there the last Saturday though.

 

We rode from Baltimore taking the shore route, no interstate, both ways. Left friday and came home Sunday and never got wet once, the pic below was at the Cavalier Motel with free covered parking and a nice bar with music just across the street.